A HUGE thank you to ALL MY REVIEWERS! THANK YOU!

And a message to Also a Harry Potter Fan – first of all, thank you for all your reviews to My Glamorous Life! I felt so...I don't know...inspired? Not sure if that's the right word for this context. But anyway, thank you! Also, I'd be happy to write the story you requested, but I'm not entirely sure of what you were trying to describe to me. So, if you still want me to write it, any chance you could give a longer/fuller description, so that I'm clear on the plot details that you wanted? Awesome, thanks.

Disclaimer – I don't own Alex Rider, or NCIS

Anyways, enjoy and don't forget to review!

Chapter 13

Caves were amazing. Especially when you took into account what it must've been like for the first explorers of caves, who entered with nothing but a flashlight, and had to scramble over the rocky ground. Nowadays, even with the manmade walkways installed and the artificial lights which penetrated even the gloomiest dark spaces, caves were still pretty darn amazing.

Unless you were with a group of nerds who seemed to want nothing more than to learn about the difference between a stalagmite and a stalactite.

Alex barely hid his yawn as Rose answered yet another question. He had to admit though, he was highly impressed with the woman's knowledge of caves. Was she naturally interested in them, or had she actually studied for the sole purpose of this mission? If it was the latter, then Alex was even more impressed with her dedication.

As they were led deeper into the cave, Alex noticed that Robert began to behave in a slightly odd manner. He seemed to be constantly looking over his shoulder at something. What was even more unusual, he wasn't paying any attention to Rose at all.

"Psst. Robert," Alex hissed, drawing closer to his friend. Robert jumped, like he'd been jabbed with electricity. "Are you alright?"

Robert blinked at him for a moment before nodding slowly. And in that second, Alex noticed the vacant look in the boy's eyes, a look that he'd definitely never had before. Frowning, Alex turned his attention away from his friend, though he made sure to keep an eye on the boy. The way Robert kept checking over his shoulder...

It was exactly what Alex had caught Desiree doing just moments before they entered the cave.

Alex's head whipped around, trying to locate the girl. Spotting her at the back of the crowd, he took hold of Robert's sleeve and slowly edged the two of them towards Dessi. He knew that something was wrong when the boy didn't even complain about moving away from the knowledge-holder.

Matthew watched Alex edge closer to them with narrowed eyes, though he didn't say anything, for which Alex was grateful. Now was not exactly the best time to be making a scene.

Robert glanced over his shoulder yet again.

The group moved even deeper into the cave. Every few metres, the boardwalk split up into even further walkways, so that five minutes later Alex was completely and utterly lost. He could only hope that Rose actually remembered the way they came.

As Alex glanced at Rose, he noticed from the corner of his eye another classmate who was acting slightly odd. The girl, whom Alex was sure was named Julie, was staring unblinkingly at the roof of the cave, her expression one of such sheer happiness that it was most definitely out of place, unless she was exceptionally happy about being in a cave...

What the hell was going on? Alex thought, confused.

Was it some sort of virus? Disease? What in God's name was causing such strange behaviour? What in God's name could cause such strange behaviour?

"Oi, you there!" Rose shouted, interrupting Alex's thoughts.

The spy turned to see Rose making her way towards a boy who was backing away frantically from an empty space. His expression was one of sheer terror.

"Hey, stop! Oi...what's his name," Rose asked helplessly to those standing nearest to the boy.

One of his friends spoke up. "He's Piers, ma'am...what's wrong with him?"

"I don't know," Rose frowned. "Has he ever done this before?"

All of Piers' friends shook their heads. Rose's frown deepened, and she reached out for the boy, to stop him backing away even further. Before she had even touched Piers though, the boy started to scream.

His hands went up to shield his face from some invisible blow, and he crumpled to the floor where he proceeded to curl himself into a tight ball. Alex recognised that position immediately; it was the most instinctive position which the body assumes to protect itself.

"Hey, it's okay, shhhh," Rose whispered, kneeling next to the whimpering boy. Piers however, either didn't or couldn't hear her soothing voice.

"Rider," Someone suddenly hissed in Alex's ear, causing the boy to jump, startled. He turned to find himself face to face with Matthew, who regarded him with some amusement behind his serious eyes.

"What?" Alex whispered, knowing he couldn't be heard over the panic as the others tried to get some response out of the whimpering Piers.

"Look at Willard."

Alex spun to see the chemical expert backing slowly from the main group, his eyes wide and panicky.

"...he isn't used to working under pressure. I'm worried that he'll snap and fire off God-knows-what in the camp, and kill everyone..."

That was what Desiree had told him about Brad Willard, when she had explained to him the reason why they were there. And with a sinking feeling, Alex remembered the rest of their conversation.

"...Quinuclidinyl Benzilate, or BZ gas...is a military incapacitating agent...it's odourless so you can't detect it until too late... can be released into the air or dissolved into a solvent for ingestion...affects your nervous system,...screw up your vision, your heart rate, and your mind. You start to see things that aren't there, start to believe things that aren't true..."

And suddenly, Alex knew what was wrong. His mind flashed back to the train trip, where Willard and the maths professor had handed out their lunches. He remembered the frown Desiree had given to her bottle of water, though she had later dismissed it. And her reaction, Robert's reaction, Julie's unblinking staring at the roof of the ceiling, Piers's collapse.

They'd been poisoned.

Alex caught Matthew's eye. A look of understanding seemed to flash between the two boys, before they moved simultaneously. One moment Willard was backing away slowly, the next he was sprawled on the ground, unconscious, while his hands were tied securely behind his back with a length of rope that Matthew pulled out of his pockets.

"What on earth –" Rose began, as those who weren't showing signs of poisoning began to realise what had happened.

"Oh my God! You killed the teacher!" A girl screamed. And pandemonium erupted.

"Oi! Shush!" Rose shouted, trying to get their attention. Her voice, however, could hardly be heard over the frightened screams. "SHUT IT!"

Well, Alex mused, that certainly caught their attention.

"Right," Rose breathed once there was silence again, "Now, I want you all to walk down this walkway and turn right. You find a large space. Stand around, sit on the floor, I don't care. But wait for me there. Got it?"

The students nodded before setting off, though more than one paused to throw a cautious look back at Alex and Matt. Four students (excluding Alex and Matthew) still remained in several states of hallucination.

"Okay," Rose started. "What was that?"

"He's poisoned the students," Alex said, gesturing to Dessi, to Robert and to Julie and Piers. "They've ingested water contaminated with dissolved BZ gas."

Rose blanched so violently that had it not been a life and death situation for four teens, Alex would've been rolling on the floor in fits of laughter.

"What are you going to do?" Matthew asked, watching Desiree helplessly.

Rose chewed her lip for a second before pulling a two-way communicator from her belt. "Snake, Snake, do you copy?"

There was quite a lot of static interference, before Snake's voice came through. "Yep, copy. What's up?"

"Get an ambulance down here. Make sure they're supplied with the antidote to BZ gas. We have at least four people who've been poisoned."

There was a sharp intake of breath on the other side. "Okay, emergency crews are on their way. ETA half an hour."

"Damn it Snake, we don't have that long," Rose snapped, glancing worriedly at Piers, "Isn't there anything you can do?"

There was a loud buzz of static before Snake responded. "I only have enough antidote to treat one person, Rose. Not four."

"Well right now, I have a suspected overdose, so you come down here right now and treat him," Rose demanded, before shutting off the communication. She turned to face Matthew with a raised eyebrow. "Right, from the way you knocked out that teacher, I'm assuming you're not here on camp."

"No ma'am. I'm with her," Matthew said, pointing at Dessi who's gaze was currently focussed on a blank stretch of wall.

"Is...is that Desiree?" Rose asked in shock.

Alex nodded grimly, and Rose let out a surprised breath.

"Well, this is unexpected," she said. "Ben called me about it, but...wow, she really got into character didn't she?"

Matthew cleared his throat. "I don't mean to be rude, ma'am, but shouldn't we be doing something more...useful?"

"Good point...um..."

"Matthew. Matthew Lake."

"Good point, Agent Lake," Rose nodded, "Right, you two stay with these four. Make sure they don't do anything stupid, like rip out their eyeballs. Yes Alex, I know about the NCIS marine case last year. They're condition should remain reasonably stable for the next few hours – if they'd been too badly overdosed, we'd have seen the effects by now. I'm going to go explain to the rest of the student what's happening. And yes Alex, that means I'll be telling some lie," Rose sighed, reading Alex's expression correctly each time.

Alex rolled his eyes, before sticking out his tongue very immaturely at Rose's back.

.

Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo of the NCIS, though more commonly known as just Tony, sat back at his desk with a relaxed sigh. It was about ten in the morning, and so far there'd been no marines murdered, no bomb threats, no hostages, no...well, you get the picture. In fact, truth be told, it was rather boring having nothing to do.

"Hey Elf Lord," Tony called, figuring if he were to do something, it might as well be to annoy Timothy McGee. "What 'ya doin'?"

"Fixing this computer," Timothy replied with a slightly strained voice. Only his feet were currently visible – the rest of him was squished under his table as he twisted around wire after wire. "It's a very delicate process, whereby – "

"You know what, Probie? I don't even want to know," Tony said, leaning back in his chair and sticking his feet up onto his table. "For I would like to spend one day, just one, without having to listen to your complicated and probably made up words."

"Too bad for you we've got another case."

Tony jumped as a rather amused voice spoke right beside his ear. He looked up into the amused eyes of Ziva David, who had managed to sneak up on him, yet again.

"Stop doing that," Tony said weakly, tucking his hands under his head, "And what do you mean, another case?"

"Well, it's not really another case, per se," Ziva admitted, going back to her own chair, "It's more the reopening of a previous case."

"Which case?" Timothy asked, his curiosity getting the better of him as he ignored his wires and stuck his head out from under his desk.

"The one with the dead marine, a pulled out eyeball, and a tonne of missing BZ Gas."

"Gibbs!" Tony all but shouted, quickly withdrawing his feet off his desk.

Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs entered the bullpen assigned to his team, his customary cup of coffee in his hand. He paused by Ziva's desk to give the Mossad liaison officer a look of annoyance and disappointment, before moving to grab his coat from his chair.

"Come on," Gibbs said, leading the way back out of the bullpen and towards the lift, three frantic agents scrambling after him.

"I call shotgun!" Tony announced as the lift doors closed.

"We're not driving," Gibbs sighed.

"We're not?" Tony asked, confused, "But...where're we going then?"

"To the caves," Gibbs replied, just as the lift reached the bottom floor, "Some idiot just poisoned school children with our missing gas."

.

Mwahahahahaha! I have officially brought in the NCIS! I've always wanted to do this thing where I had all the top intelligence agencies trying to work together! I'm so excited!

Anyways, are you excited about this? Do you want to groan and strangle me for doing something I shouldn't have? Do you think that this was a mistake? Please tell me in a REVIEW!

Thanks for reading and remember, the more you review the faster I write and update!

Love Chariots99